Apparatus, method and program for converting structured document

ABSTRACT

Acquisition portion acquires distribution rule information, user situation information, and a distribution information structured document output from contents distribution server, and evaluation object extraction portion extracts evaluation objects related with the user side situation from evaluation objects of each condition description portion contained in the distribution rule information, and user situation extraction portion extracts the situation of user terminal corresponding to evaluation objects concerned from the user situation information, and condition evaluation portion evaluates each condition description portion on the basis of the situation of the user terminal, and conversion rule information generation portion generates a conversion rule information on the basis of the result of the evaluation, and conversion portion converts a distribution information structured document on the basis of the conversion rule information, and output portion outputs the distribution information structured document to the contents distribution server.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method and a programfor converting structured document such as the XHTML document.

2. Related Background Art

Along with the high speed processing in recent networks and terminals,the distribution technologies of multimedia contents (images, sounds,etc.) to be realized in wide area networks such as Internet or so haveattracted considerable attention. As one of the technologies, there isUMA (Universal Multimedia Access). The UMA is the technology thatcustomizes and distributes multimedia contents according to theenvironmental situations of users. The environmental situations of usersinclude the capability of terminals that users use, the capability ofthe networks to which the terminals are connected, users' locations,time zone, and so forth. Moreover, as another technology, there is atechnology called AAA (Authentication Authorization Accounting). The AAAis the technology that customizes and distributes various kinds ofservices to be offered in wide area networks according to users' statussituations. The users' status situations include, for example, users'ages, affiliations, licenses, and the like.

The technologies for customizing and distributing the multimediacontents, network services, and so forth according to various kinds ofsituations of users have been disclosed in, for example, the paper 1“Design and Implementation of an Access Control Processor for XMLDocuments” by E.Damiani, S.Vimercati, S.Paradoshi, P.Samarati, inProceedings of the 9th International WWW Conference, May 2000, or thepaper 2 “Adaptive Hypermedia made simple using HTML/XML Style SheetSelectors”. by F.Bry, M.Kraus, in Proceedings of the 2th InternationalConference on Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web Based Systems (AH2002), and so forth.

The paper 1 discloses a technology wherein on the basis of userinformation (user's status situations) such as user ID, password, IPaddress, user authority, and the like, an XHTML document described byXHTML (eXtensible HyperTextMarkupLanguage) that is a language fordescribing structured documents is converted into an XHTML documentaccording to each user's authority, and distributed to users, therebyaccess control of users is performed.

And, the paper 2 discloses a technology wherein an XHTML document thatis a structured document is converted into an XHTML document that isfitted to each environmental situation on the basis of environmentalsituations at the side of each user. In the technology disclosed in thepaper 2, XHTML documents are converted by use of existing style sheetssuch as CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) and XSLT (XML Stylesheet LanguageTransform) and so on.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, in the paper 1, the framework that converts the XHTML documentthat is a structured document has not been disclosed. Moreover, in thetechnology disclosed in the paper 2, for using the existing stylesheets, the conversion rules assembled in each style sheet had to bechanged, which has led to difficulties.

The object of the present invention is to solve the problems of theprior art, accordingly, to provide an apparatus, a method and a programfor converting structured document.

A structured document conversion device according to the presentinvention is characterized in comprising acquisition means for acquiringthe distribution rule information wherein the distribution rules ofcontents are described and the receiver side situation informationwherein the situations at the side of receivers of the contents aredescribed, and generation means for generating the conversion ruleinformation wherein the conversion rules for converting structureddocuments in which information about contents is described, on the basisof the distribution rule information and the receiver side situationinformation acquired by the acquisition means, and conversion means forconverting structured documents, on the basis of the conversion ruleinformation generated by the generation means.

Moreover, a structured document conversion method according to thepresent invention is characterized in comprising acquisition step ofacquiring the distribution rule information wherein the distributionrules of contents are described and the receiver side situationinformation wherein the situations at the side of receivers of thecontents are described, and generating step of generating the conversionrule information wherein the conversion rules for converting thestructured documents in which information about contents is described,on the basis of the distribution rule information and the receiver sidesituation information acquired in the acquisition step, and conversingstep of converting structured documents, on the basis of the conversionrule information generated in the generating

Furthermore, a structured document conversion program according to thepresent invention is characterized in functioning a computer asacquisition means for acquiring the distribution rule informationwherein the distribution rules of contents are described and thereceiver side situation information wherein the situations at the sideof receivers of the contents are described, and generation means forgenerating the conversion rule information wherein the conversion rulesfor converting the structured document in which information aboutcontents is described, on the basis of the distribution rule informationand the receiver side situation information acquired by the acquisitionmeans, and conversion means for converting structured documents, on thebasis of the conversion rule information generated by the generationmeans.

According to the present invention, the conversion rule information isgenerated on the basis of the distribution rule information and thereceiver side situation information, and further structured documentsare converted on the basis of this conversion rule information,consequently, structured documents can be converted according to thesituations at the side of receivers.

In a structured document conversion device according to the presentinvention, it is preferred that the generation means comprises a firstextraction means for extracting evaluation objects of the conditionsincluded in the distribution rules from the distribution ruleinformation, a second extraction means for extracting the receiver sidesituation corresponding to the evaluation object from the receiver sidesituation information on the basis of the evaluation object extracted bythe first extraction means, and evaluation means for evaluatingconditions on the basis of the receiver side situation extracted by thesecond extraction means, and on the basis of the results of theevaluation performed by the evaluation means, conversion ruleinformation is generated.

Moreover, in a structured document conversion method according to thepresent invention, it is preferred that the generating step comprises afirst extracting step for extracting evaluation objects of theconditions included in the distribution rules from the distribution ruleinformation, a second extracting step for extracting the receiver sidesituation corresponding to the evaluation object from the receiver sidesituation information on the basis of the evaluation object extracted inthe first extracting step, and evaluating step for evaluating conditionson the basis of the receiver side situation extracted by the secondextracting step, and thereby generates the conversion rule informationon the basis of the results of the evaluation performed in theevaluating step.

Furthermore, in a structured document conversion program according tothe present invention, it is preferred that the generation meanscomprises a first extraction means for extracting evaluation objects ofthe conditions included in the distribution rules from the distributionrule information, a second extraction means for extracting the receiverside situation corresponding to the evaluation object from the receiverside situation information on the basis of the evaluation objectsextracted by the first extraction means, and evaluation means forevaluating conditions on the basis of the receiver side situationextracted by the second extraction means, and on the basis of theresults of the evaluation performed by the evaluation means, and therebygenerates the conversion rule information.

According to the preferred manners, the conditions included in thedistribution rules can be evaluated on the basis of the receiver sidesituation, therefore, for example, by describing the information about auser in the receiver side situation, and by describing the distributionrule information according to the receiver side situation to thedistribution rule information, distribution control to structureddocuments can be performed according to the receiver side situation.

In a structured document conversion device according to the presentinvention, it is preferred that, when the evaluation performed by theevaluation means is a negative evaluation, the generation meansgenerates conversion rule information including a conversion rule todelete objects corresponding to the conditions under which theevaluation has been performed from the structured document or change theobjects concerned.

Moreover, in a structured document conversion method according to thepresent invention, it is preferred that, when the evaluation performedin the evaluating step is a negative evaluation, the generating stepgenerates conversion rule information including a conversion rule todelete objects corresponding to the conditions under which theevaluation has been performed from the structured document or change theobjects concerned.

Furthermore, in a structured document conversion program according tothe present invention, it is preferred that, when the evaluationperformed by the evaluation means is a negative evaluation, thegeneration means generates conversion rule information including aconversion rule to delete objects corresponding to the conditions underwhich the evaluation has been performed from the structured document orchange the objects concerned.

According to the preferred manners, when an evaluation of the conditionsincluded in the distribution rule performed on the basis of the receiverside situation is a negative evaluation, objects corresponding to theconditions under which the evaluation has been performed can be deletedfrom the structured document or the objects concerned can be changed,consequently, it is possible to convert structured documents accordingto the receiver side situation.

Further, it is preferred that a structured document conversion deviceaccording to the present invention further comprises memory means forstoring the conversion rule information generated by the generationmeans, in correspondence to the evaluation objects extracted by thefirst extraction means and the receiver side situation extracted by thesecond extraction means, wherein the generation means further comprisesa third extraction means that, on the basis of the evaluation objectsextracted by the first extraction means and the receiver side situationextracted by the second extraction means, extracts the conversion ruleinformation corresponding to the evaluation objects and the receiverside situation from the conversion rule information stored by the memorymeans, and when conversion rule information is not extracted by thethird extraction means, the generation means generates conversion ruleinformation on the basis of the result of the evaluation performed bythe evaluation means, and when conversion rule information is extractedby the third extraction means, the conversion means converts astructured document, on the basis of the extracted conversion ruleinformation.

Moreover, it is preferred that a structured document conversion methodaccording to the present invention further comprises a storing step forstoring the conversion rule information generated in the generatingstep, in correspondence to the evaluation objects extracted in the firstextracting step and the receiver side situation extracted in the secondextracting step, wherein the generating step further comprises a thirdextracting step that, on the basis of the evaluation objects extractedin the first extracting step and the receiver side situation extractedin the second extracting step, extracts the conversion rule informationcorresponding to the evaluation objects and the receiver side situationfrom the conversion, rule information stored in the storing step, andwhen conversion rule information is not extracted in the thirdextracting step, the generating step generates conversion ruleinformation on the basis of the result of the evaluation performed inthe evaluating step, and when conversion rule information is extractedin the third extracting step, the conversing step converts a structureddocument, on the basis of the extracted conversion rule information.

Furthermore, it is preferred that a structured document conversionprogram according to the present invention further comprises memorymeans for storing the conversion rule information generated by thegeneration means, in correspondence to the evaluation objects extractedby the first extraction means and the receiver side situation extractedby the second extraction means, wherein the generation means furthercomprises a third extraction means that, on the basis of the evaluationobjects extracted by the first extraction means and the receiver sidesituation extracted by the second extraction means, extracts theconversion rule information corresponding to the evaluation objects andthe receiver side situation from the conversion rule information storedby the memory means, and when conversion rule information is notextracted by the third extraction means, the generation means generatesconversion rule information on the basis of the result of the evaluationperformed by the evaluation means, and when conversion rule informationis extracted by the third extraction means, the conversion meansconverts a structured document, on the basis of the extracted conversionrule information.

According to the further preferred manners, because the existingconversion rule information can be acquired and reused, it becomespossible to convert structured documents at further higher speed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a communicationsystem in each preferred embodiments according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of astructured document conversion device according to the first preferredembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a functional configuration block diagram of a structureddocument conversion device in the first preferred embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sample of a distribution information structured document.

FIG. 5 is a sample of a distribution rule information.

FIG. 6 is a sample of a user situation information.

FIG. 7 is a sample of a conversion rule information.

FIG. 8 is a sample of a portion of a distribution information structureddocument after conversion.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing a process of the structured documentconversion device in each preferred embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a process of the conversion ruleinformation generation in the first preferred embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of thestructured document conversion device in the second preferredembodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of thestructured document conversion device in the second preferredembodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a process of the conversion ruleinformation generation in the second preferred embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a recording medium wherein a programconverting structured document is recorded.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Respective preferred embodiments of the structured document conversiondevice according to the present invention are explained hereinafter inmore details by reference to the attached drawings. In the respectivedrawings, an identical code is given to a same element, and redundantexplanations are omitted hereinafter.

First Preferred Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of acommunication system containing a structured document converteraccording to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 1, the communication system 1 comprises a structureddocument conversion device 10, a contents distribution server 20 thatdistributes multimedia contents, Internet IN, and a user terminal 30connectable to the internet. In addition, as for the structured documentconversion device 10, the contents distribution server 20, and the userterminal 30 shown in FIG. 1, although plural units thereof may bearranged in actual cases, in order to prevent the drawing becomingcomplicated, a structured document conversion device 10, a contentsdistribution server 20, and a user terminal 30 are only shown in FIG. 1.

In the next place, the structured document conversion device 10 shown inFIG. 1 is explained. The structured document conversion device 10 isconnected to the contents distribution server 20. This structureddocument conversion device 10 is a device that converts a distributioninformation structured document that describes the information about themultimedia contents distributed by the contents distribution server 20into a distribution information structured document according to thesituation at the side of the user terminal 30.

Herein, as the languages for describing a structured document, thereare, for example, XHTML, SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language),HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), XML (extensible Markup Language), andso forth. In the present preferred embodiment, although explanations aremade by use of XML as the language for describing a structured documentfor convenience of explanation, this does not mean that a structureddocument is limited to an XML document.

In addition, the structured document conversion device 10 in the presentpreferred embodiment is described as a device that is independent of thecontents distribution server 20, however, the present invention is notlimited to this, but for example, the various functions of thestructured document conversion device 10 may be equipped in the contentsdistribution server 20 as described later herein.

In the next place, by reference to FIG. 2, the hardware configuration ofthe structured document conversion device 10 is explained. As shown inFIG. 2, the structured document conversion device 10 has a CPU 10A, amemory device 10B, and a communication device 10C, and each of thesedevices is connected with a bus 10D.

The CPU 10A performs the various programs stored in the memory device10B, and thereby controls each device connected through the bus 10D. Thecommunication device 10C is a communication interface for connecting tonetworks, such as Internet IN and so on.

The memory device 10B includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 10Ba, a RAM(Random Access Memory) 10Bb, and a nonvolatile memory 10Bc such as anEEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) or thelike. Various programs to be performed by the CPU 10A are stored in theROM 10Ba. The program and data that are performed by the CPU 10A aretemporarily stored in the RAM 10Bb, which is used as a work area of theCPU 10A.

The nonvolatile memory 10Bc includes a structured document conversionprogram storage domain c1 and an evaluation object table storage domainc2. A program for realizing a structured document conversion process, aswill be mentioned later herein, is stored in the structured documentconversion program storage domain c1. An evaluation object table isstored in the evaluation object table storage domain c2. The evaluationobject table stores the information that indicates whether theevaluation object is related to the user's situation in correspondenceto each evaluation object, as will be mentioned later herein.

In the next place, the functional configuration of the structureddocument conversion device 10 that constitutes the communication system1 is explained by reference to FIG. 3. As shown in. FIG. 3, thestructured document conversion device 10 is equipped with an acquisitionportion 11, a conversion rule information generation portion 12, aconversion portion 16, and an output portion 17.

The acquisition portion 11 acquires distribution rule information, usersituation information, and a distribution information structureddocument that are output from the contents distribution server 20. Thedistribution rule information is an XML document that describes thedistribution rule at the moment of distributing the multimedia contentsdescribed in the distribution information structured document. The usersituation information is an XML document that describes the situation ofthe user terminal 30 that receives the multimedia contents described inthe distribution information structured document. The distributioninformation structured document, the distribution rule information, andthe user situation information are explained in detail hereinafter.

In the first place, by reference to FIG. 4, the distribution informationstructured document wherein the information about multimedia contents isdescribed is explained. The properties about multimedia contents aredescribed in the MediaInformation description portion 41 shown in FIG.4. As these properties, there are, for example, a URI (Uniform ResourceIdentifier) of multimedia contents, and a coding system of multimediacontents. Moreover, the start time and duration of multimedia contentsis described in the MediaTime description portion 42.

In the AudioVisualSegment description portions 43 and 44, the propertiesabout respective objects (for example, image scenes) “sc01” and “sc02”contained in multimedia contents are described. As these properties,there are, for example, the MediaTime description portions 43 b and 44 bwherein the start time and duration of an object is described, andPointOfView description portions 43 a and 44 a wherein the keywords thatshow the contents of an object and the likes are described. In thePointOfView description portion 43 a shown in FIG. 4, “Violence” isdescribed as a keyword (Viewpoint) showing the contents of an object“sc01”, and “0.0” is described as the value (Value) of this object.These descriptions show that a degree of “Violence” contained in theobject “sc01” is “0.0” (a degree to be shown by 0.0˜1.0.). And, in thePointOfView description portion 44 a, “Violence” is described as akeyword showing the contents of the object “sc02”, and “0.8” isdescribed as the value of this object. These descriptions show that adegree of “Violence” contained in an object “sc02” is “0.8”.

In the next place, the distribution rule information is explained byreference to FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 5, the distribution ruleinformation is constituted by the target description portion 51 and therule Set description portion 52. In the target description portion 51,the subjects description portion 51 a that describes the information foridentifying an object user to whom this distribution rule is applied to,the resources description portion 51 b that describes the informationfor identifying an object document set as the object of distribution,and the actions description portion 51 c that describes the informationfor identifying an operation that the object user performs to the objectdocument are described. In the subjects description portion 51 a, theinformation about the object user is described, and a mark “*” thatshows that all the users that logged in to the contents distributionserver 20 are objects is described in FIG. 5. And, in the resourcesdescription portion 51 b, the information about an object document isdescribed, and in FIG. 5, “//xx.com/c01.xml” (URI) is described as anobject document. Furthermore, in the actions description portion 51 c,the operation that an object user performs to an object document isdescribed, and in FIG. 5, “read” is described as the operation. Thesedescriptions show that all the users that logged in to the contentsdistribution server 20 are set as objects, and it is judged whether eachof these object users meets the conditions described in the rule Setdescription portion 52 or not, and only users that meet the conditionscan “read” the “//xx.com/c01.xml”.

In the rule Set description portion 52, the distribution rule to theobject user specified in the target description portion 51 is described.In the rule Set description portion 52, the condition descriptionportions 52 a and 52 b are described. In the condition descriptionportion 52 a shown in FIG. 5, “Violence” is described in the PointOfViewdescription portion described in the distribution information structureddocument shown in FIG. 4, among the objects contained in multimediacontents, and also described is the condition of the purport thatobjects whose values showing the degree thereof are “0.5” or highershould be the objects. Moreover, in the condition description portion 52b, “vip” is described in a user's role described in the user situationinformation to be described later herein, among the users who logged into the contents distribution server 20, and also described is thecondition of the purport that users at age of “18” or older should bethe objects.

Therefore, in the distribution rule information shown in FIG. 5,“Violence” is described in the PointOfview description portion of thedistribution information structured document (//xx.com/c01.xml), and asfor the objects whose values showing the degree thereof are “0.5” orhigher, “vip” is described in the role of the users of the usersituation information, and further described is the distribution rulethat only users at age of “18” or older can “read”.

In the next place, by reference to FIG. 6, the user situationinformation is explained hereinafter. As shown in FIG. 6, in the usersituation information, one or plural component description portions 61are described. In the component description portion 61, the User Profiledescription portion wherein the information about a user is described,and the Hardware Platform description portion wherein the informationabout the terminal capability of the user terminal 30 is described aredescribed. In the User Profile description portion 61 a shown in FIG. 6,“guest” is described as the user's role and “16” is described as theage. These descriptions show that the user of the user terminal 30 logsin to the contents distribution server 20 as a “guest”, and the user'sage is “16”.

Moreover, the conversion rule information generation portion 12generates the conversion rule information for converting thedistribution information structured document acquired by the acquisitionportion 11, on the basis of the distribution rule information and theuser situation information acquired by the acquisition portion 11.Herein, the conversion rule information is an XML document wherein therule for converting a distribution information structured documentaccording to various situations of users is described.

Herein, by reference to FIG. 7, the conversion rule information isexplained. The conversion rule information shown in FIG. 7 isconstituted by the template description portions 71 and 72. In thistemplate description portion 72, “Violence” is described in thePointOfView description portion of the distribution informationstructured document, and also described is the purport that theAudioVisualSegment description portion wherein “0.5” or higher isdescribed as the value showing the degree thereof should be the objectof the processing. In the template description portion 71, described isthe purport that the AudioVisualSegment description portion that hasbeen made into the object of the processing in the template descriptionportion 72 is deleted from the distribution information structureddocument, and other portions of AudioVisualSegment description portionare copied.

Moreover, the conversion rule information generation portion 12 shown inFIG. 3 is equipped with an evaluation object extraction portion 13, auser situation extraction portion 14, and a condition evaluation portion15.

The evaluation object extraction portion 13 extracts the evaluationobjects that are related with the user situation from the evaluationobjects of each condition description portion contained in thedistribution rule information. Herein, as the evaluation objects of eachcondition description portion, there are, for example, the element name,a keyword, and a URI to be described in a tag. By reference to thedistribution rule information shown in FIG. 5, explanations are mademore concretely hereinafter, and the evaluation object extractionportion 13 extracts the evaluation objects that are related with a usersituation from the “PointOfview description portion” and “value”described as evaluation objects in the condition description portion 52a of the distribution rule information. The “PointOfview descriptionportion” and “value” that are the evaluation objects in this case areevaluation objects relevant to an object, and are not evaluation objectsrelevant to a user situation. Therefore, in this case, the evaluationobject extraction portion 13 will not extract the evaluation objects.Moreover, the evaluation object extraction portion 13 extracts theevaluation objects that are related with a user situation from the“role” and “age” described in the condition description portion 52 b ofthe distribution rule information as evaluation objects. The “role” and“age” that are the evaluation objects in this case are the objects forevaluation relevant to a user situation. Therefore, the evaluationobject extraction portion 13 extracts the “role” and “age” as evaluationobjects that are related with a user situation. Herein, to thenonvolatile memory 10Bc of the memory device 10B, an evaluation objecttable that stores the information on whether the evaluation objects areevaluation objects relevant to a user situation or not, incorrespondence to respective evaluation objects. Therefore, theevaluation object extraction portion 13 can judge whether the evaluationobjects concerned are evaluation objects relevant to a user situation ornot, by referring to the evaluation object table concerned on the basisof each evaluation object.

The user situation extraction portion 14 extracts the situation of theuser terminal 30 corresponding to the evaluation objects concerned fromthe user situation information on the basis of the evaluation objectsextracted by the evaluation object extraction portion 13. Explanationsare made more concretely by reference to the user situation informationshown in FIG. 6, and the user situation extraction portion 14 refers tothe user situation information on the basis of the “role” and “age” asthe evaluation objects extracted by the evaluation object extractionportion 13, and as a result, the user situation extraction portion 14extracts “guest” corresponding to “role” and “16” corresponding to “age”respectively as the situation at the side of the user terminal 30.

The condition evaluation portion 15 evaluates each condition descriptionportion contained in the distribution rule information on the basis ofthe situation of the user terminal 30 extracted by the user situationextraction portion 14. Explanations are made more concretely byreference to the distribution rule information shown in FIG. 5, and thecondition evaluation portion 15 evaluates the condition descriptionportions 52 a and 52 b shown in FIG. 5 on the basis of each of the“guest” corresponding to “role” and the “16” corresponding to “age”extracted by the user situation extraction portion 14. Namely, thecondition evaluation portion 15 evaluates the condition descriptionportion 52 b on the basis of the situations at the side of the userterminal 30 the “guest” and the “16” corresponding to the “role” and the“age” that are the evaluation objects of the condition descriptionportion 52 b. As shown in FIG. 5, about the user of the user terminal30, the condition evaluation portion 15 makes a negative evaluation thatthe “Violence” is described in the PointOfView description portion ofthe distribution information structured document, and the user cannot“read” objects whose values showing the degree thereof are “0.5” orhigher.

Moreover, the condition evaluation portion 15 stores the evaluationresult in the RAM 10Bb temporarily, in correspondence to each conditiondescription portion. More concretely, when an evaluation result is anaffirmative evaluation (true), the condition evaluation portion 15stores “Permit”, in correspondence to the condition description portion,and an evaluation result is a negative evaluation (false), then thecondition evaluation portion 15 stores “Deny”, in correspondence to thecondition description portion. Therefore, since the evaluation result ofthe condition description portion 52 b shown in FIG. 5 serves as anegative evaluation, “Deny” is stored in the RAM 10Bb in correspondenceto the condition description portion 52 b. In addition, the conditionevaluation portion 15 does not evaluate the condition descriptionportion 52 a from which the evaluation object has not been extracted bythe user situation extraction portion 14.

The conversion rule information generation portion 12 generatesconversion rule information on the basis of the result of the evaluationperformed by the condition evaluation portion 15. Explanations are mademore concretely on the basis of the distribution rule information shownin FIG. 5, and the condition description portion 52 a and the conditiondescription portion 52 b that are described in this distribution ruleinformation are connected to each other with a logical product.Moreover, as mentioned above, this condition description portion 52 b isstored in correspondence to “Deny”. Therefore, the conversion ruleinformation generation portion 12 generates conversion rule informationthat what satisfies the condition description portion 52 a are denied.That is, the conversion rule information (Refer to FIG. 7.) that objectswherein “Violence” is described in the PointOfView description portiondescribed by the distribution information structured document, and thevalue showing the degree thereof is “0.5” or higher are denied isgenerated by the conversion rule information generation portion 12.

By the way, as conversion rules in the case of the denial, there are,for example, the case where an object corresponding to denial(conditions under which an negative evaluation was made) is to bedeleted from a distribution information structured document, and thecase where such an object is to be changed into other object.

The conversion portion 16 converts a distribution information structureddocument (Refer to FIG. 4.) on the basis of the conversion ruleinformation (Refer to FIG. 7.) generated by the conversion ruleinformation generation portion 12. Explanations are made moreconcretely, and the conversion portion 16 deletes the descriptionportion of the AudioVisualSegment description portion 44 from thedistribution information structured document shown in FIG. 4 on thebasis of the conversion rule described by the conversion ruleinformation shown in FIG. 7. Thereby, the portion described by theAudioVisualSegment description portion 43 and the AudioVisualSegmentdescription portion 44 described by the distribution informationstructured document shown in FIG. 4 are converted into the portiondescribed only in the AudioVisualSegment description portion 43 as shownin FIG. 8.

The output portion 17 outputs the distribution information structureddocument converted by the conversion portion 16 to the contentsdistribution server 20.

Accordingly, in the structured document conversion device 10 in thepresent preferred embodiment, a distribution information structureddocument can be converted according to the situation of the userterminal 30 used as the distribution destination of multimedia contents.

In the next place, the operation of the structured document conversiondevice according to the present invention is explained by reference toFIG. 9 and FIG. 10.

First, the outline operation of the structured document conversionprocessing performed in the structured document conversion device 10 isexplained by reference to FIG. 9.

In the first place, the acquisition portion 11 of the structureddocument conversion device 10 acquires the distribution ruleinformation, user situation information, and distribution informationstructured document output from the contents distribution server 20(Step S1).

In the next place, the conversion rule information generation portion 12of structured document conversion device 10 performs a conversion ruleinformation generation processing to be mentioned later herein on thebasis of the distribution rule information and the user situationinformation acquired by the acquisition portion 11, and therebygenerates conversion rule information (Step S2).

In the next place, the conversion portion 16 of structured documentconversion device 10 acquires the conversion rule information generatedby the conversion rule information generation portion 12, and convertsthe distribution information structured document on the basis of theconversion rule information (Step S3).

And, the output portion 17 of structured document conversion device 10outputs the distribution information structured document converted bythe conversion portion 16 to the contents distribution server 20 (StepS4).

In the next place, by reference to FIG. 10, the detailed operation ofthe conversion rule information generation processing (S2 in FIG. 9) isexplained. The evaluation object extraction portion 13 of the structureddocument conversion device 10 extracts the evaluation objects that arerelated to a user situation, among the evaluation objects of eachcondition description portion contained in the distribution ruleinformation acquired by the acquisition portion 11 from thatdistribution rule information (Step S11).

The user situation extraction portion 14 of the structured documentconversion device 10 extracts the situation at the side of the userterminal 30 corresponding to that evaluation object from the usersituation information, on the basis of the evaluation objects extractedby the evaluation object extraction portion 13 (Step S12).

The condition evaluation portion 15 of the structured documentconversion device 10 evaluates each condition description portion on thebasis of the situation of the user terminal 30 extracted by the usersituation extraction portion 14 (Step S13), and judges whether theevaluation result is an affirmative evaluation or not (Step S14). Whenthis judgment is YES (Step S14; YES), the condition evaluation portion15 stores “Permit” on the RAM 10Bb, in correspondence to the conditiondescription portion (Step S15). On the other hand, when it judges thatthe result of the evaluation of the condition description portion by thejudgment in Step S14 is a negative evaluation (Step S14; NO), thecondition evaluation portion 15 stores “Deny” on the RAMH 10Bb, incorrespondence to the condition description portion (Step S16).

The conversion rule information generation portion 12 of the structureddocument conversion device 10 generates conversion rule information onthe basis of the result of the evaluation performed by the conditionevaluation portion 15 (Step S17). Explanations are made more concretelyon the basis of the distribution rule information shown in FIG. 5, andthe conversion rule information generation portion 12 generatesconversion rule information that what satisfies the conditiondescription portion 52 a is to be denied, on the basis of the fact thecondition description portion 52 a and the condition description portion52 b are connected with a logical product, and that this conditiondescription portion 52 b is “Deny”. That is, the conversion ruleinformation generation portion 12 generates a conversion ruleinformation (Refer to FIG. 7.) that objects wherein “Violence” isdescribed in the PointOfview description portion described by thedistribution information structured document, and the value showing thedegree thereof is “0.5” or higher are to be deleted.

Accordingly, by describing a user's age and so forth to the usersituation information, and by describing the information about the rightto access according to the user's age and so forth to the distributionrule information, it becomes possible to perform the access control to adistribution information structured document according to user situationinformation.

Second Preferred Embodiment

In the next place, the second preferred embodiment according to thepresent invention is explained hereinafter. The point where thestructured document conversion device 10 s in the second preferredembodiment differs from the structured document conversion device 10 inthe first preferred embodiment is that in the structured documentconversion device 10 s in the second preferred embodiment, when thegenerated conversion rule information is stored into the memory deviceand a distribution information structured document is converted in thenext time and after that, this stored conversion rule information isreused, on the other hand, in the structured document conversion device10 in the first preferred embodiment, whenever a distributioninformation structured document is converted, conversion ruleinformation is generated, thus, the structured document conversiondevice 10 s differs from the structured document conversion device 10.

In the first place, by reference to FIG. 11, the hardware configurationof the structured document conversion device 10 s in the presentpreferred embodiment is explained. As shown in FIG. 11, the structureddocument conversion device 10 s in the present preferred embodimentdiffers from the hardware configuration of the structured documentconversion device 10 in the first preferred embodiment in that it hasfurther a conversion rule information storage domain c3 in thenonvolatile memory 10Bc of the memory device 10B. Therefore, since theother configuration elements are same as the hardware configurationelements of the structured document conversion device 10 in the firstpreferred embodiment, redundant explanations are omitted with giving theeach same mark to the each same element, and the conversion ruleinformation storage domain c3 that is the difference from the firstpreferred embodiment is explained hereinafter.

Into the conversion rule information storage domain c3 of thenonvolatile memory 10Bc, conversion rule information generated by theconversion rule information generation portion is stored. Thisconversion rule information is stored in correspondence to theevaluation objects extracted by the evaluation object extraction portionand the situation of the user terminal 30 extracted by the usersituation extraction portion.

In the next place, by reference to FIG. 12, the functional configurationof the structured document conversion device 10 s in the presentpreferred embodiment is explained. As shown in FIG. 12, the structureddocument conversion device 10 s in the present preferred embodimentdiffers from the functional configuration of the structured documentconversion device 10 in the first preferred embodiment in that it hasfurther a conversion rule information memory portion 18 and a conversionrule information extraction portion 19. Therefore, since the otherconfiguration elements are same as the functional configuration elementsof the structured document conversion device 10 in the first preferredembodiment, redundant explanations are omitted with giving the each samemark to the each same element, and the conversion rule informationmemory portion 18 and the conversion rule information extractionportion. 19 that are the differences from the first preferred embodimentare explained hereinafter.

The conversion rule information memory portion 18 stores the conversionrule information generated by the conversion rule information generationportion 12 into the conversion rule information storage domain c3. Whenthe conversion rule information memory portion 18 stores the conversionrule information, stores it concerned in correspondence to theevaluation objects extracted by the evaluation object extraction portion13 and the situation of the user terminal 30 extracted by the usersituation extraction portion 14.

The conversion rule information extraction portion 19 searches theconversion rule information stored to the conversion rule informationstorage domain c3 on the basis of the evaluation objects extracted bythe evaluation object extraction portion 13 and the situation at theside of the user terminal 30 extracted by the user situation extractionportion 14. The conversion rule information extraction portion 19extracts the conversion rule information corresponding to the evaluationobjects concerned and the situation at the side of the user terminal 30from the conversion rule information storage domain c3.

When conversion rule information is extracted by the conversion ruleinformation extraction portion 19, the conversion portion 16 converts adistribution information structured document on the basis of theextracted conversion rule information. Moreover, when conversion ruleinformation is not extracted by the conversion rule informationextraction portion 19, the conversion portion 16 converts a distributioninformation structured document on the basis of the conversion ruleinformation generated by the conversion rule information generationportion 12 in the same manners as in the first preferred embodiment.

In the next place, the operation of the present preferred embodiment isexplained. In the first place, as for the outline operation of thestructured document conversion processing to be performed in thestructured document conversion device 10 s in the present preferredembodiment, since it is same as the outline operation of the structureddocument conversion processing performed in the structured documentconversion device 10 explained in the first preferred embodiment, theexplanation thereof is omitted. However, among the outline operation ofthe structured document conversion processing, the operation of theconversion rule information generation processing (S2 in FIG. 9) differsfrom that in the first preferred embodiment, therefore, the explanationsthereof are made hereinafter.

In the next place, by reference to FIG. 13, the detailed operation ofthe conversion rule information generation processing is explained.Herein, since each processing of steps S31, S32, and S35˜S39 shown inFIG. 13 is same as each processing of steps S11˜S17 explained in fulldetail in the first preferred embodiment respectively (Refer to FIG.10.), explanations thereof are omitted, and it explanations are made oneach processing of steps S33, S34, and S40 different from the firstpreferred embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 13, in Step S33, on the basis of the evaluation objectsextracted by the evaluation object extraction portion 13 and thesituation at the side of the user terminal 30 extracted by the usersituation extraction portion 14, the conversion rule informationextraction portion 19 of the structured document conversion device 10 sextracts the conversion rule information corresponding to the evaluationobjects and the situation at the side of the user terminal 30 for fromthe conversion rule information stored in the conversion ruleinformation storage domain c3 (Step S33).

Next, the conversion rule information extraction portion 19 of thestructured document conversion device 10 s judges whether the conversionrule information corresponding to the evaluation objects and thesituation of the user terminal 30 could be extracted or not (Step S34).When this judgment is YES (Step S34; YES), the structured documentconversion device 10 s ends the conversion rule information generationprocessing. Consequently, the conversion portion 16 converts thedistribution information structured document on the basis of theconversion rule information extracted in Step S33.

On the other hand, in the judgment in Step S34, when the conversion ruleinformation corresponding to the evaluation objects and the situation ofthe user terminal 30 could not be extracted (Step S34; YES), the sameprocessing as the steps S13˜S17 in FIG. 10 explained in the firstpreferred embodiment is performed (Step S35˜S39). And the conversionrule information memory portion 18 stores the conversion ruleinformation generated by the conversion rule information generationportion 12 in Step S39, in correspondence to the evaluation objectsextracted by the evaluation object extraction portion 13 and thesituation of the user terminal 30 extracted by the user situationextraction portion 14 into the conversion rule information storagedomain c3 (Step S40).

Accordingly, in the structured document conversion device 10 s in thepresent preferred embodiment, since the conversion rule informationgenerated by the conversion rule information generation portion 12 isstored in a memory device, the existing conversion rule information canbe acquired and reused. Therefore, it becomes possible to performstructured document conversion processing at high speed.

Modified Embodiments

In addition, in each of the preferred embodiments mentioned above, bydescribing a user's age and the likes into user situation information,and by describing the information about the right to access according toa user's age and the likes into the distribution rule information,access control is performed according to user situation information.However, the present invention is not limited to such an access control,but further, for example, by describing communication traffic conditionsof networks and servers at the side, and so froth into user situationinformation, and by describing the information about the network accessrule according to communication traffic conditions and so forth intodistribution rule information, network control may be performedaccording to user situation information.

Moreover, in the second preferred embodiment mentioned above, whenconversion rule information is stored into a memory device and adistribution information structured document is converted in the nexttime and after that, this stored conversion rule information is reused.However, the present invention is not limited to such reuse, but forexample, the conversion rule information and the distributioninformation structured document converted by this conversion ruleinformation may be stored in correspondence to evaluation objectscontained in the conversion rule information and the distributioninformation structured document before conversion. Thereby, when theconversion rule information extracted on the basis of the evaluationobjects contained in the distribution information structured documentbefore conversion and evaluation objects contained in the conversionrule information is same as the conversion rule information to be theobject of processing, the distribution information structured documentafter the conversion stored in correspondence to the conversion ruleinformation concerned may be output from an output portion as it is, asa consequence, it is possible to further improve the high speed.

Lastly, according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention,explanation is made on the structured document conversion program, andthe recording medium that stores the structured document conversionprogram and that can be read by a computer (hereinafter simply,recording medium). Herein, a recording medium refers to a medium thatcan transmit described contents of a program to a reading devicearranged in the hardware resources of a computer causing to changeenergy such as magnetism, light, electricity, and the likes with a formof signals corresponding to the change, according to the describedcontents of the program. As such a recording medium, there are, forexample, a magnetic disk, an optical disc, CD-ROM, a memory built in acomputer, and so forth.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of therecording medium according to the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention. The recording medium 100 is equipped with a program domain101 that records a program as shown in FIG. 14. A structured documentconversion program 102 is recorded in this program domain 101. Thestructured document conversion program 102 comprises an acquisitionmodule 102 a, a conversion rule information generation module 102 b, aconversion module 102 c, and an output module 102 d. The functions to berealized by the operating acquisition module 102 a, the conversion ruleinformation generation module 102 b, the conversion module 102 c, andthe output module 102 d respectively are same as the functions in eachof the acquisition portion 11, the conversion rule informationgeneration portion 12, the conversion portion 16, and the output portion17 of the structured document conversion device 10.

As explained heretofore, according to a structured document conversiondevice, a structured document conversion method, and a structureddocument conversion program under the present invention, it is possibleto convert structured documents according to the user situations.

1. An apparatus for converting a structured document having informationregarding multimedia contents comprising: acquisition means foracquiring distribution rule information sent from a remote source whendata contents are sent to said acquisition means, wherein distributionrules of the data contents are described and receiver side situationinformation wherein the situations at the side of receivers of thecontents are described, said data contents includes multimedia contents;generation means for generating the conversion rule information whereinthe conversion rules for converting structured documents in whichinformation about the contents is described, said information includinga media information describing portion, on the basis of the distributionrule information and the receiver side situation information acquired bythe acquisition means; and conversion means for converting thestructured documents, on the basis of the conversion rule informationgenerated by the generation means without an intermediate conversion ofthe structured documents, wherein the generation means includes a firstextraction means for extracting evaluation objects of the conditionsincluded in the distribution rules from the distribution ruleinformation.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, the generation meanscomprises a second extraction means for extracting the receiver sidesituation corresponding to the evaluation object from the receiver sidesituation information on the basis of the evaluation objects extractedby said first extraction means, and evaluation means for evaluating theconditions on the basis of the receiver side situation extracted by thesecond extraction means, and on the basis of the results of theevaluation performed by the evaluation means, the conversion ruleinformation is generated.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, whenthe evaluation performed by the evaluation means is a negativeevaluation, the generation means generates the conversion ruleinformation including a conversion rule to delete objects correspondingto the conditions under which the evaluation has been performed from thestructured document or change the objects concerned.
 4. The apparatusaccording to claim 2, further comprising memory means for storing theconversion rule information generated by the generation means, incorrespondence to the evaluation objects extracted by the firstextraction means and the receiver side situation extracted by the secondextraction means, wherein the generation means further comprising athird extraction means that, on the basis of the evaluation objectsextracted by the first extraction means and the receiver side situationextracted by the second extraction means, extracts the conversion ruleinformation corresponding to the evaluation objects and the receiverside situation from the conversion rule information stored by the memorymeans, and when the conversion rule information is not extracted by thethird extraction means, the generation means generates the conversionrule information on the basis of the result of the evaluation performedby the evaluation means, and when the conversion rule information isextracted by the third extraction means, the conversion means converts astructured document, on the basis of the extracted conversion ruleinformation.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein information regardingthe contents of the structured documents is described in each of saidevaluation objects.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversionmeans judges from information of the structured documents described ineach of said objects whether access control is performable to convert orselect the accessible object on the basis of the conversion ruleinformation generated by the generation means.
 7. The apparatus of claim1, further comprising access control means, for judging whether to grantaccess on either a keyword or value basis.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein: information regarding the contents of the structured documentsis described in each of said evaluation objects; the conversion meansjudges from information of the structured documents described in each ofsaid objects whether access control is performable to convert or selectthe accessible object on the basis of the conversion rule informationgenerated by the generation means; and further comprising access controlmeans, for judging whether to grant access on either a keyword or valuebasis.
 9. A computer-implemented method for converting a structureddocument having information regarding multimedia contents comprisingsteps of: acquiring distribution rule information sent from a remotesource when data contents are sent to a distribution mechanism, whereindistribution rules of the data contents are described and receiver sidesituation information wherein the situations at the side of receivers ofthe contents are described, said data contents includes multimediacontents; generating conversion rule information wherein the conversionrules for converting the structured document in which information aboutthe contents is described, said information including a mediainformation describing portion, on the basis of the distribution ruleinformation and the receiver side situation information acquired in theacquiring step; converting structured documents, on the basis of theconversion rule information generated in the generating step without anintermediate conversion of the structured documents, and storing thestructured documents in a computer readable memory for subsequentretrieval, wherein the generation step includes extracting evaluationobjects of conditions in the distribution rules from the distributionrule information.
 10. The computer implemented method of claim 9,wherein information regarding the contents of the structured documentsis described in each of said evaluation objects.
 11. The computerimplemented method of claim 9, wherein the converting step judges frominformation of the structured documents described in each of saidobjects whether access control is performable to convert or select theaccessible object on the basis of the conversion rule informationgenerated by the generation step.
 12. The computer implemented methodclaim 9, further comprising controlling access on a judgment based onkeyword or value.
 13. The computer implemented method of claim 9,wherein: information regarding the contents of the structured documentsis described in each of said evaluation objects; the converting stepjudges from information of the structured documents described in each ofsaid objects whether access control is performable to convert or selectthe accessible object on the basis of the conversion rule informationgenerated by the generation step; further comprising judging whether togrant access on either a keyword or value basis.
 14. A computer readablemedium having computer program instructions encoded thereon thatimplement functions for converting a structured document havinginformation regarding multimedia contents when the instructions areexecuted by a processor, the functions comprising: acquisition means foracquiring distribution rule information sent from a remote source whendata contents are sent to said acquisition means, wherein distributionrules of the data contents are described and receiver side situationinformation wherein the situations at the side of receivers of thecontents are described, said data contents includes multimedia contents;generation means for generating conversion rule information wherein theconversion rules for converting the structured document in whichinformation about contents is described, said information including amedia information describing portion, on the basis of the distributionrule information and the receiver side situation information acquired bythe acquisition means; and conversion means for converting thestructured documents, on the basis of the conversion rule informationgenerated by the generation means without an intermediate conversion ofthe structured documents, wherein the generation means includes a firstextraction means for extracting evaluation objects of the conditionsincluded in the distribution rules from the distribution ruleinformation.
 15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, whereininformation regarding the contents of the structured documents isdescribed in each of said evaluation objects.
 16. The computer readablemedium of claim 14, wherein the conversion means judges from informationof the structured documents described in each of said objects whetheraccess control is performable to convert or select the accessible objecton the basis of the conversion rule information generated by thegeneration means.
 17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, furthercomprising access control means for judging whether to grant access oneither a keyword or value basis.
 18. The computer readable medium ofclaim 14, wherein: information regarding the contents of the structureddocuments is described in each of said evaluation objects; theconversion means judges from information of the structured documentsdescribed in each of said objects whether access control is performableto convert or select the accessible object on the basis of theconversion rule information generated by the generation means; andfurther comprising access control means for judging whether to grantaccess on either a keyword or value basis.
 19. An apparatus forconverting a structured document having information regarding multimediacontents comprising: acquisition means for acquiring distribution ruleinformation wherein distribution rules of contents are described andreceiver side situation information wherein the situations at the sideof receivers of the contents are described, said data contents includesmultimedia contents; generation means for generating the conversion ruleinformation wherein the conversion rules for converting structureddocuments in which information about the contents is described, saidinformation including a media information describing portion, on thebasis of the distribution rule information and the receiver sidesituation information acquired by the acquisition means; and conversionmeans for converting the structured documents, on the basis of theconversion rule information generated by the generation means without anintermediate conversion of the structured documents, the generationmeans comprising: a first extraction means for extracting evaluationobjects of the conditions included in the distribution rules from thedistribution rule information, a second extraction means for extractingthe receiver side situation corresponding to the evaluation object fromthe receiver side situation information on the basis of the evaluationobjects extracted by said first extraction means, and evaluation meansfor evaluating the conditions on the basis of the receiver sidesituation extracted by the second extraction means, and on the basis ofthe results of the evaluation performed by the evaluation means, theconversion rule information is generated.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19,wherein information regarding the contents of the structured documentsis described in each of said evaluation objects.
 21. The apparatus ofclaim 19, wherein the conversion means judges from information of thestructured documents described in each of said objects whether accesscontrol is performable to convert or select the accessible object on thebasis of the conversion rule information generated by the generationmeans.
 22. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising access controlmeans, for judging whether to grant access on either a keyword or valuebasis.
 23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein information regarding thecontents of the structured documents is described in each of saidevaluation objects; wherein the conversion means judges from informationof the structured documents described in each of said objects whetheraccess control is performable to convert or select the accessible objecton the basis of the conversion rule information generated by thegeneration means; further comprising access control means, for judgingwhether to grant access on either a keyword or value basis.
 24. A methodfor converting a structured document having information regardingmultimedia contents comprising steps of: acquiring distribution ruleinformation wherein distribution rules of contents are described andreceiver side situation information wherein the situations at the sideof receivers of the contents are described, said data contents includesmultimedia contents; generating conversion rule information wherein theconversion rules for converting the structured document in whichinformation about the contents is described, said information includinga media information describing portion, on the basis of the distributionrule information and the receiver side situation information acquired inthe acquiring step, the generating step comprising the steps of: firstextracting evaluation objects of the conditions included in thedistribution rules from the distribution rule information, secondextracting the receiver side situation corresponding to the evaluationobject from the receiver side situation information on the basis of theevaluation objects extracted by said first extraction step, andevaluating the conditions on the basis of the receiver side situationextracted by the second extraction step, and on the basis of the resultsof the evaluation performed by the evaluation step, the conversion ruleinformation being generated; converting structure documents, on thebasis of the conversion rule information generated in the generatingstep without an intermediate conversion of the structured documents,outputting the converted structured documents to a distribution server.25. The method of claim 24, wherein information regarding the contentsof the structured documents is described in each of said evaluationobjects.
 26. The method of claim 24, wherein the converting step judgesfrom information of the structured documents described in each of saidobjects whether access control is performable to convert or select theaccessible object on the basis of the conversion rule informationgenerated by the generation step.
 27. The method of claim 24, furthercomprising controlling access from a judgment based on keyword or value.28. The method of claim 24, wherein: information regarding the contentsof the structured documents is described in each of said evaluationobjects; the converting step judges from information of the structureddocuments described in each of said objects whether access control isperformable to convert or select the accessible object on the basis ofthe conversion rule information generated by the generation step;further comprising judging whether to grant access on either a keywordor value basis.
 29. A computer readable medium having computer programinstructions encoded thereon that implement functions for converting astructured document having information regarding multimedia contentswhen the instructions are executed by a processor, the functionscomprising: acquisition means for acquiring distribution ruleinformation wherein distribution rules of contents are described andreceiver side situation information wherein the situations at the sideof the receivers of the contents are described, said data contentsincludes multimedia contents; generation means for generating theconversion rule information wherein the conversion rules for convertingstructured documents in which information about the contents isdescribed, said information including a media information describingportion, on the basis of the distribution rule information and thereceiver side situation information acquired by the acquisition means;and conversion means for converting the structured documents, on thebasis of the conversion rule information generated by the generationmeans without an intermediate conversion of the structured documents,the generation means comprising: a first extraction means for extractingevaluation objects of the conditions included in the distribution rulesfrom the distribution rule information, a second extraction means forextracting the receiver side situation corresponding to the evaluationobject from the receiver side situation information on the basis of theevaluation objects extracted by said first extraction means, andevaluation means for evaluating the conditions on the basis of thereceiver side situation extracted by the second extraction means, and onthe basis of the results of the evaluation performed by the evaluationmeans, the conversion rule information is generated.
 30. The computerreadable medium of claim 29, wherein information regarding the contentsof the structured documents is described in each of said evaluationobjects.
 31. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein theconversion means judges from information of the structured documentsdescribed in each of said objects whether access control is performableto convert or select the accessible object on the basis of theconversion rule information generated by the generation means.
 32. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 29, further comprising means forwhether to grant access on either a keyword or value basis.
 33. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 29, wherein: information regarding thecontents of the structured documents is described in each of saidevaluation objects; the conversion means judges from information of thestructured documents described in each of said objects whether accesscontrol is performable to convert or select the accessible object on thebasis of the conversion rule information generated by the generationmeans; and further comprising means for judging whether to grant accesson either a keyword or value basis.